System and method for managing and updating information relating to economic entities

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for managing and updating information relating to economic entities using sets of unique identifiers. A universe database contains record entries. Each of the record entries is associated with a unique universe identifier. A customer database contains customer record entries. Each customer record entry is associated with a unique customer identifier. A conversion table provides a mapping between the unique universe identifiers and the unique customer identifiers. The information contained in the customer database is updated using the unique universe identifiers, unique customer identifiers and the conversion table. The unique universe identifiers and the unique customer identifiers are stable over a period of time.

CROSS-REFERENCED TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/992,809, titled “System and Method for Managing and UpdatingInformation Relating to Economic Entities,” filed Nov. 19, 2001 now U.S.Pat. No. 7,370,044 the contents of which is incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to managing and updating a massive amount ofinformation relating to economic entities and providing informationrequested by an information buyer to the information buyer, and, inparticular, to efficiently providing the requested information using twosets of unique identifiers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to managing and processing massive amountsof information regarding virtually each and every participant in today'seconomy. A significant part of today's economy relies on informationprovided by information suppliers, those who gather and process raw dataand provide processed information regarding an economic entity toinformation buyers. As an example, an information supplier gathers dataregarding a consumer and sells processed information to an informationbuyer. An information buyer uses the processed information to identifypotential customers of its products and to shape and target itsmarketing strategies. Examples of information buyers include creditcompanies, retailers, manufacturers and service providers.

An information supplier provides information according to criteriaspecified by an information buyer. One information buyer may only needaddresses and names of its potential customers. Another informationbuyer may wish to know the type of food and clothing a potentialcustomer prefers, in addition to the customer's name and address. Athird information buyer may wish to know the potential customer'smarital status, income and assumed debts.

Traditional methods of supplying processed information are laborintensive and require tremendous processing capability and time. Ingeneral, traditional methods involve a step of comparing the content ofan information buyer's customer file to the content in the informationsupplier's file. Comparing data contents requires a batch processing andpresents a substantially difficult task. Information about a particularperson is often captured in various forms, requiring various steps tostandardize an information buyer's customer file. For example, even aperson's name may have been entered in the customer's files in three orfour different ways. In addition, the amount of information availableregarding an individual exploded with advancements made in computer andinformation technologies, presenting a daunting amount of information tobe handled and managed.

Traditional methods also often fragmented databases of an informationbuyer according to the buyer's business units and geographical locationsof the buyer's sub-units. In other words, an information buyer'scustomer file was often stored in a fragmented way, thereby preventingthe information buyer from having an integrated view of its customers. Acorporation cannot provide the most efficient services to its customerswhen it only has fragmented views of its customers and cannot access allinformation it has regarding a particular customer. For example, aregular customer of a corporation does not regard the corporation basedon its different business units and is likely to be frustrated when aunit of the corporation cannot access the customer's file when thecustomer has been dealing for a number of years with another unit of thecorporation.

In addition, new digital infrastructures such as the Internet andwireless communications brought about capability to distributeinformation in an amazing speed to almost every location on the globe.Accordingly, customers of information buyers expect high qualityservices in near real-time. In turn, information buyers expectinformation suppliers to deliver high quality information in nearreal-time. At the same time, the digital revolution brought about vastcapability to gather astounding amounts of information regarding everyeconomically active person, either natural or legal. Information buyersexpect information suppliers to be able to gather, process and deliverenormous amounts of information in near real-time.

An information supplier such as Acxiom Corporation (“Acxiom”) attemptsto meet the challenges in the digital age by using a plurality ofpersistent keys that link the record entries of information buyers withthe record entries in its central database. U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,140assigned to Acxiom, which patent is incorporated herein by thisreference, discloses an open system in which an information buyer'sdatabases are updated using a plurality of persistent keys and versionnumbers. A version number associated with a persistent key is updatedeach time the content in Acxiom's central database associated with thepersistent key is updated. An information buyer's database becomesupdated when the buyer's version number differs from the version numberin Acxiom's central database with respect to the same persistent key.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention provides systems and methods for managing andupdating massive amounts of information relating to economic entities.An information supplier's universe database includes record entries,which are subject to change. Each record entry is associated with aunique universe identifier (“UUID”). A record entry can contain allinformation regarding a particular economic entity, including, amongothers, the address, the telephone number, marital status and credithistory. A UUID is stable over time, thus can be used to link raw datagenerated by an economic entity and which raw data are subject tochange.

When an information buyer transfers its customer database to theinformation supplier to update its database, the supplier assigns a setof unique customer identifiers (“UCID's”) to each record entry in thecustomer's database. A UCID is assigned to each and every record entrycontained in the customer's database regardless of whether a recordentry corresponds to an existing economic entity. The UCID is stableover a period of time, and each of the customer record entries isorganized per person. Accordingly, each of the UCID's can be used tolink separate data generated over time regarding a particular customerof an information buyer.

The supplier also creates a conversion table or other desiredfunctionality for associating, mapping, linking, or correlating(hereinafter “associating”) the UCID's and UUID's. The supplier thenuses the UUID's, UCID's and the associating functionality to efficientlytransfer information desired by an information buyer and referenced by aUCID. The supplier assigns a set of UCID's per information buyer. Eachbuyer has its unique set of UCID's. Accordingly, integrity of data percustomer database belonging to an information buyer is facilitated.

An information supplier keeps track of enormous amounts of informationrelating to virtually every economic entity generating raw data within adefined universe. A UUID, which is preferably stable over time,facilitates management of information by providing a way to linkseparate and modular data inputs regarding a particular economic entity.Similarly, a UCID, which is preferably stable over time, allows a way tolink different sets of information regarding a particular customer of aninformation buyer. A set of UCID's enables an information buyer to havean integrated view of each and every of its customers. Furthermore, theUCID's allow the information buyer to transmit only its UCID's or asubset thereof to the information supplier when the buyer wishes toupdate its customer record entries. Accordingly, the present inventionreduces the amount of data that needs to be handled or transmitted froman information buyer to an information supplier.

For certain time-critical information, the present invention provides away to update such information in near real-time. An information buyercan transmit via the Internet or a wireless communication link, the UCIDassociated with the time-critical information. The information suppliercan find the corresponding UUID using the UCID and the associatingfunctionality. The supplier can update the content requested by thebuyer via the Internet or another real-time communication link.

The use of two sets of unique identifiers provides a way to decouple theinformation buyer's customer file and the information supplier'suniverse file. This decoupling provides several advantages. Among themare that it prevents inadvertent contamination of information betweenthe customer database and the universe database. The universe databaseincludes highly sensitive information, such as credit information andother regulated information. The decoupling provides a ways to prudentlycontrol highly sensitive information. In addition, the decouplingprovides a way to protect against information theft. The decoupling alsoreduces the chance that one buyer will accidentally obtain access toanother buyer's information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overview of a preferred system embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary embodiment of the initial transfer of informationfrom an information supplier to an information buyer according to theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary embodiment of a non-initial transfer ofinformation from an information supplier to an information buyeraccording to the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 4a is an exemplary embodiment of a transfer of information relatingto a consumer referenced by a UCID and the corresponding UUID.

FIG. 4b is an exemplary embodiment of a data file associated with a setof attributes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, an overview of an exemplary process 100 involved ingathering, updating and processing information regarding an economicentity is described. An information supplier 102 keeps a universe file(“UF”) 104 that can contain a record entry for each entity thatgenerates raw data in a universe X. For example, a universe X maycomprise the United States. The supplier gathers raw data relating toeach economic entity, 106A through 106ZZ. The supplier then processesthe raw data and stores the processed information relating to eacheconomic entity in universe X.

Each record entry for an economic entity can be associated with a uniqueuniverse identifier (“UUID”). The UUID is preferably stable over time.In other words, all and every information concerning an entity can bereferenced and accessed by using a UUID associated with the entityregardless of time and geographical location. For example, if an entity106A installs a telephone line at time X and the entity assumes amortgage at a later time Y, the supplier can receive informationrelating to these events and both these events can be referenced usingthe same UUID. As another example, if the entity 106A buys a house inlocation Y and buy a car in location Z, the supplier can gatherinformation relating to these events and both of these events can bereferenced using the same UUID. A record entry can contain allinformation relating to an economic entity, including, among others, thename, address, telephone number, utility bill payment history and credithistory. A record entry can include a plurality of data files. The UUIDcan be assigned as appropriate, per economic entity, per record entry,or per any other desirable data trait. A preferred embodiment assignsthe UUID per entity.

The use of UUID's, which is preferably stable over a period of time andassigned preferably per entity, facilitates management and integrationof information regarding an economic entity. Raw data relating to aneconomic entity is subject to change. For example, a person's address,name, telephone names, e-mail address, and marital status may changeover time. Furthermore, a person's certain traits may manifest for ashort time period then disappear. For example, a person may becomefanatical over chocolate ice cream and buy gallons of ice cream everyweek, then develop a distaste for chocolate ice cream. The person maythen develop another interest. The UUID's provide a way to link allinformation relating to an entity regardless of time and space. Theyalso provide a way to avoid fragmentation of information relating to anentity. Similarly, the UUID's provide safeguards against loss ofinformation regarding an economic entity. All information regarding anentity can be integrated, analyzed and modeled to provide a holisticmarket benchmark for the particular person.

The supplier 102 provides information to a plurality of informationbuyers, commonly designated as 108. For example, an information buyer108 a may be a manufacturer of bicycles and may buy a list of customerswho are potential buyers of bicycles. The supplier delivers a customerfile (“CF”) 120 a to the information buyer 108 a. Similarly, aninformation buyer 108 b may be a credit company and buy a list ofcustomers who are potential consumers of its services. The supplier 102delivers a CF 120 b to the information buyer 108 b.

In general, a CF includes a subset of the information included in theUF. There are several reasons for this. An information buyer 108 a maybe geographically limited and therefore not wish to obtain informationon someone who is not residing in a specified locality. Another buyermay be interested in obtaining information regarding entities who arenatural persons and are under the age of thirty-five (“35”). Yet anotherbuyer may also be interested in only those entities whose behaviorindicates that they would be good credit card customers. Still anotherbuyer may need only parts of the information kept in the UF on eachentity. In any event, the supplier identifies the content to bedelivered in a CF file according to the information buyer'sspecifications.

Each record entry in a CF can be assigned with a unique customeridentifier (“UCID”). A UCID can be assigned to every customer recordentry regardless of whether the record entry identifies an economicentity. For example, the CF 120 a may include old or corrupted data andthus include a record entry that may not correspond to an economicentity constituting a potential customer for the information buyer 108a. Regardless, a UCID can be assigned for each and every customer recordentry in a CF. A UCID is preferably stable over time. Accordingly, aUCID provides a way to link separate data inputs generated at differenttimes and at different locations and yet relating to the record entrycorresponding to the same UCID.

The supplier 102 can assign a different set of UCID's per informationbuyer. A set of UCID's used for a CF belonging to the buyer 108A is,therefore, preferably different from a set of UCID's used for a CFbelonging to the buyer 108B. The use of different sets of UCID's perinformation buyer provides capability to protect proprietary informationbelonging to each information buyer. The use of different sets of UCID'salso provides capability to avoid unintended dilution or expansion ofinformation contained in a CF of a particular information buyer.Furthermore, using different sets of UCID's for different customersavoids the security issues and other numerous problems associated withthe previously discussed persistent key approach where different buyersare using the same key to access the same record entry. For example, thesupplier can change periodically a set of UCID's belonging to aninformation buyer, thereby providing an increased security forinformation contained in the buyer's CF.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, a preferred embodiment for transferringinformation from a supplier's universe file to a buyer's customer fileis provided. The process depends on whether each record entry in thecustomer file was previously assigned with a UCID. In FIGS. 2 and 3, theuniverse file is illustrated as contained in a single database.Similarly, the customer file is illustrated as contained in a singledatabase. Those skilled in the art will understand that the universe andcustomer files can be stored in several different databases and memorydevices located across different geographical areas. The requirement isthat a record entry corresponding to a UUID be accessible regardless ofthe location and manner by which the record entry is stored.

Similarly, a record entry corresponding to a UCID needs to be accessibleregardless of the location and manner by which the record entry isstored. A record entry can include a plurality of data files.

Referring to FIG. 2, a process of transferring information when aninformation buyer provides a customer file which does not havepreviously assigned UCID's is described. An information buyer 202provides its CF 204 to a supplier 206 to update record entries containedin the CF 204. In general, the buyer provides the CF 204 to the supplier206 using storage devices, such as magnetic tapes, CD's or DVD's.However, the CF 204 can be transferred to the supplier 206 via anycommunicational means, including wired and wireless communications, suchas satellite transmissions and the Internet.

In a preferred embodiment, information in the CF 204 is organized perperson. Accordingly, upon the receipt of the CF 204, the supplier 206checks to ascertain the information in CF 204 is organized per person.If the content of the 204 is not organized per person, the supplierreworks the content of the CF 204 such that the content becomesorganized per person. The element 208 represents a working customer file(“WCF”) whose record entry organization may or may not be the same asthat in the CF 204.

The supplier then matches or correlates the content of the WCF 208 withthe information contained in the UF 210. The process of matchinginformation contained in two different databases is well known in theart. For example, public domain identity data can be used to match thecontent of the WCF 208 with the content contained in the UF 210. Theresult of the matching process, in general, will include a matchedcustomer file (“MCF”) 212 and a non-matched customer file (“NMCF”) 214.The supplier then updates the content of the MCF 212 according to thespecifications of the information buyer 202.

The supplier assigns a UCID to each record entry in MCF, as well as eachrecord entry in NMCF 214. Those skilled in the art will understand thatthe assignment of the UCID's to the record entries in the CF or filesderived therefrom may occur at any time after the CF 204 is delivered tothe supplier and preferably before the supplier delivers an updatedcustomer file (“UCF”) to the buyer 202. Those skilled in the art willalso understand that the MCF 212 and NMCF 214 need not be combinedbefore being delivered to the buyer 202 since the CF 204 may be storedin various formats as long as a UCID can be used for all related dataidentified as a single record entry.

After assigning a set of UCID's, the supplier creates a conversion tableor other desired mapping, linking, associating, or correlating(hereinafter, “associating”) functionality to associate the UUID's andUCID's (hereinafter, “CT” or “conversion table”) 218. The CT 218 can beused in subsequent transfers of information from the supplier 206 to thebuyer 202. The supplier 206 delivers an updated customer file (“UCF”)216 to the buyer 202 via any viable communicational links.

Referring to FIG. 3, a non-initial transfer of information from thesupplier 306 to buyer 302 is described. The buyer 302 delivers a CF 304to the supplier 306. Each record entry should have a corresponding UCID.Using the conversion table created during the initial transfer ofinformation, the supplier 306 can easily identify and update thoserecord entries in the UF corresponding previously matched recordentries. The record entries that have not been previously matched withinformation contained in the UF or record entries that do not haveassigned UCID's are matched using the traditional data matching processdescribed in connection with FIG. 2. Iterative transfers of informationbetween an information supplier and an information buyer will result inintegration of information contained in the buyer's customer files, andthe need to perform expensive traditional data matching process willeventually disappear.

Accordingly, each UCID has a corresponding UUID, that is all recordentries in CF 304 will eventually have a corresponding entries in theUF, and the CT 318 is used to translate the UCID's assigned to the CF304 to the UUID's in the UF. Once the mapping between the content of theCF 304 and the content of the UF 310 is accomplished, the updating ofthe content of the CF becomes a trivial process. For example, certaininformation contained in a record entry referenced by a UUID can besimply written over into the record entry referenced by thecorresponding UCID. In addition, the information buyer 302 may transmitto the supplier 306 only the UCID's corresponding to record entries thebuyer wishes to update. The supplier can supply only a portion of therecord entry referenced by the corresponding UUID's. The use of theUUID's, UCID's and CT can eliminate the need to transfer a massiveamount of data from an information buyer to an information supplier.

The use of two sets of unique identifiers, i.e., the UUID's for therecord entries in the UF and the UCID's for the record entries in a CFprovides several advantages. First, it provides a decoupling functionthat helps to protect security and integrity of different sets ofdatabases. It provides safeguards against inadvertent dilution andcontamination of data between the UF and a CF. In addition, the UFcontains highly sensitive data, such as credit information andinformation subject to various federal or local laws. The use ofdifferent sets of identifiers for the UF and CF provides a way tocontrol and prudently manage sensitive and/or regulated information. TheUCID's cannot be used to ascertain credit or regulated information.Furthermore, an information thief cannot use a set of the UCID's to backtrace the source of information. In this sense, the CT acts as a filteror a gateway to isolate the outside world from the UF, unlike thepersistent key approach mentioned above.

The UF contains time-sensitive information. The supplier has ability toobtain economic transaction of a person in near real-time basis. Eachtime a consumer generates an economic event, such as buying a box ofchocolates using a credit card, or assuming a mortgage, the supplier hasability to update record entries in its UF. Certain aspects ofinformation regarding a person may be time critical to certaininformation buyers. The use of the UUID's, UCID's and CT allowscapability to provide critical information to an information buyer innear real-time.

Referring to FIG. 4a , a transfer of information relating to a consumerreferenced by a UCID and the corresponding UUID is described. A UUID 404references a record entry 420 containing information relating to anentity 402. In general the record entry 420 includes a plurality of datafiles, commonly designated as 406. When the entity 402 generates events,such as changing her residency and disconnecting her telephone numberand utilities, an information supplier receives new raw data regardingthe entity 402. The supplier has the ability to process the raw data andrecognize, for example, the data file 406 a containing the address forthe person 402 needs to be updated. When the buyer 410 a transfers theUCID 412, the supplier finds the corresponding UUID 404 using theconversion table 440. The supplier can also initiate transfer ofinformation regarding the entity 402 when certain information regardedby the buyer 410 a to be time-critical becomes updated.

As illustrated in FIG. 4b , the data file 406 a is associated with a setof attributes commonly designated as 408. For example, an attribute 408a specifies whether the data file 406 a is regulated or non-regulated.Another attribute 408 x specifies the time critical level of the datafile 406 a for different information buyers. Depending on the attributesassociated with the data file 406 a, the supplier can transfer in nearreal-time the updated content of the data file 406 a to an informationbuyer. For example as shown in FIG. 4a , the content of the data file406 a is non-regulated and time critical to buyer 410 a. The suppliercan use the UUID 404 and the conversion table 440 to find thecorresponding UCID 412. The supplier then can deliver the content of thedata file 406 a to update the corresponding data file 414 a contained inthe record entry 430 referenced by UCID 412. The supplier can providenew time-critical information to the buyer 410 a via any real-timemethods of communications, including the Internet and wirelesscommunications. Those skilled in the art will understand that asupplier's computer can also overwrite the content of the data file 406a into the data file 414 a associated in a buyer's computer using astandard protocol such as Extensible Markup Language (“XML”).

The foregoing is provided for purposes of explanation and disclosure ofpreferred embodiments of the present invention. Further modificationsand adaptations to the described embodiments will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art and may be made without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention and the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for updating a customer file having aplurality of customer record entries, each customer record entry beingassociated with a unique customer identifier (UCID), comprising:receiving a UCID contained in the customer file; associating via aconversion table the UCID with a corresponding unique universeidentifier (UUID), the UUID referencing one record entry contained in aninformation supplier's database, wherein the UCID is different from theUUID, and the UCID is distributed to a single customer and the UUID isnot distributed to the customer; updating, by a computer processorexecuting code stored on a computer-readable medium, a portion of acustomer record entry associated with the transferred UCID withinformation contained in the record entry referenced by thecorresponding UUID, comprising using the UCID associated with the UUIDto map content of the information supplier's database with content ofthe customer file, the information supplier's database being updatableusing raw data generated from economic activity of one or more economicentities; and providing the customer record entry with the updatedportion to the customer.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: each UCID isstable over a period of time; and each UUID is stable over anotherperiod of time.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the action of updatinga portion of the customer record entry associated with the transferredUCID comprises a batch processing mode.
 4. The method of claim 1,comprising: updating the transferred UCID with a new UCID; associatingthe new UCID with a UUID; and generating a second conversion tableproviding a mapping between the new UCID and the UUID associated withthe new UCID.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a UCIDcontained in the customer file comprises receiving a request from thecustomer to update the customer file and receiving the customer file,the customer file comprising a plurality of record entries associatedwith a plurality of UCIDs and a plurality of economic entities such thata record entry of the plurality of record entries corresponds to oneUCID and one economic entity, the customer being an information buyer,wherein updating the portion of the customer record entry associatedwith the transferred UCID with information contained in the record entryreferenced by the corresponding UUID comprises modifying at least onerecord entry in the customer file to include datum from the informationsupplier's database based on mapping of the content of the informationsupplier's database with the content of the customer file using theplurality of UCIDs associated with the plurality of UUIDs to generate anupdated customer file, the information supplier's database comprising auniverse file.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein providing the customerrecord entry with the updated portion to the customer comprisesproviding the updated customer file to the customer without providingthe plurality of UUIDs.
 7. A method for updating a customer file havinga plurality of customer record entries, the method comprising: receivinga request from an information buyer to update the customer file andreceiving the customer file, the customer file comprising the pluralityof customer record entries associated with a plurality of uniquecustomer identifiers (UCIDs) and a plurality of economic entities suchthat a record entry of the plurality of customer record entriescorresponds to one UCID and one economic entity, the plurality of UCIDsbeing associated by a conversion table to a plurality of unique universeidentifiers (UUIDs) such that each UCID corresponds to one UUID, theplurality of UUIDs being different than the plurality of UCIDs, theconversion table being stored on a storage device of an informationsupplier; using the plurality of UCIDs associated with the plurality ofUUIDs to map, by a processor in a computer of the information supplier,content of a universe file with content of the customer file, theuniverse file being updatable using raw data generated from economicactivity of one or more of the plurality of economic entities; modifyingat least one record entry in the customer file to include a datum fromthe universe file based on mapping of the content of the universe filewith the content of the customer file using the plurality of UCIDsassociated with the plurality of UUIDs to generate an updated customerfile; and providing the updated customer file to the information buyerwithout providing the plurality of UUIDs, wherein the conversion tablewas created after receiving an initial customer file and prior toreceiving the request to update the customer file, and wherein theplurality of UCIDs was associated with the plurality of UUIDs prior toreceiving the request to update the customer file.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the universe file comprises record entries havingcontent associated with a majority of individuals located in the UnitedStates of America, wherein the plurality of economic entities comprisesat least some of the majority of individuals located in the UnitedStates of America.
 9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:generating a new plurality of UCIDs; modifying the updated customer fileby updating the plurality of customer record entries with the newplurality of UCIDs; and generating a new conversion table to map the newplurality of UCIDs with the plurality of UUIDs.
 10. The method of claim7, wherein providing the updated customer file to the information buyerwithout providing the plurality of UUIDs comprises: transmitting thecustomer file over an Internet to a device associated with theinformation buyer.
 11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:determining a datum in a record entry of the universe file has changedafter providing the updated customer file to the information buyer;determining the record entry in which the datum has changed istime-critical in accordance with criteria received from the informationbuyer; and providing content of the record entry in which the datum haschanged to the information buyer.
 12. The method of claim 11, whereinproviding content of the record entry in which the datum has changed tothe information buyer comprises providing the content in near real-timeto the change in the datum.
 13. The method of claim 7, wherein at leastone UCID of the plurality of UCIDs is stable over a period of time and aUUID corresponding to the at least one UCID of the plurality of UCIDs isstable over another period of time.
 14. A computerized processing systemfor updating a customer file having a plurality of customer recordentries, the system comprising: a database device comprising a universefile having content associated with a plurality of unique universeidentifiers (UUIDs), the universe file being updatable using raw datagenerated from economic activity of one or more of a plurality ofeconomic entities; a conversion table stored on a storage device, theconversion table comprising the plurality of UUIDs associated with aplurality of unique customer identifiers (UCIDs) such that each UCIDcorresponds to one UUID, the plurality of UUIDs being different than theplurality of UCIDs, the conversion table being created after receivingan initial customer file and prior to receiving a request from aninformation buyer to update the customer file; a processor in a computerof an information supplier, the processor being capable of: receivingthe request from the information buyer to update the customer file andreceiving the customer file, the customer file comprising the pluralityof customer record entries associated with the plurality of UCIDs andthe plurality of economic entities such that a record entry of theplurality of customer record entries corresponds to one UCID and oneeconomic entity; using the plurality of UCIDs associated with theplurality of UUIDs to map the content of the universe file with contentof the customer file; modifying at least one record entry in thecustomer file to include a datum from the universe file based on mappingof the content of the universe file with the content of the customerfile using the plurality of UCIDs associated with the plurality of UUIDsto generate an updated customer file; and providing the updated customerfile to the information buyer without providing the plurality of UUIDs.15. The computerized processing system of claim 14, wherein the universefile comprises record entries having content associated with a majorityof individuals located in the United States of America, wherein theplurality of economic entities comprises at least some of the majorityof individuals located in the United States of America.
 16. Thecomputerized processing system of claim 14, wherein the processor isfurther capable of: generating a new plurality of UCIDs; modifying theupdated customer file by updating the plurality of customer recordentries with the new plurality of UCIDs; and generating a new conversiontable to map the new plurality of UCIDs with the plurality of UUIDs. 17.The computerized processing system of claim 14, wherein the processor iscapable of providing the updated customer file to the information buyerwithout providing the plurality of UUIDs by: transmitting the customerfile over an Internet to a device associated with the information buyer.18. The computerized processing system of claim 14, wherein theprocessor is further capable of: determining a datum in a record entryof the universe file has changed after providing the updated customerfile to the information buyer; determining the record entry in which thedatum has changed is time-critical in accordance with criteria receivedfrom the information buyer; and providing content of the record entry inwhich the datum has changed to the information buyer.
 19. Thecomputerized processing system of claim 18, wherein the processor iscapable of providing content of the record entry in which the datum haschanged to the information buyer by providing the content in nearreal-time to the change in the datum.
 20. The computerized processingsystem of claim 14, wherein at least one UCID of the plurality of UCIDsis stable over a period of time and a UUID corresponding to the at leastone UCID of the plurality of UCIDs is stable over another period oftime.